Analysis of saliva and urine to predict outcomes in frailty
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Analysis of saliva and urine to predict outcomes in frailty
IRAS ID
354404
Contact name
Francis Martin
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
R&D department
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Patients categorised as frail are often unpredictable to manage as identifying those in need of urgent intervention is challenging. Clinicians or carers may draw on experience of the condition or of the patient themselves, however, in the emerging era of personalised medicine it is known that because everyone is different, people respond differently in different circumstances. Frailty is a condition that is debilitating to both physical and mental health. It is often a prelude to end-of-life, which generates a whole raft of management issues for clinician, patient and family. That said, more and more younger patients (45 years to 65 years) are living with frailty in that their physiological age has accelerated faster than their biological age. Being in a position to predict in a non-invasive fashion, outcomes in such patients would be a powerful tool to assist those managing such patients. Saliva and urine are readily available liquid biopsies. Biological constituents appear in saliva or urine that are reflective of processes ongoing within the patient’s body. We aim to test a new technology that uses light to interact with such biological components. When the light interacts with the liquid sample/biopsy it provides information about the relative amount of the components present. Collecting this information from patients over time will allow results to be compared with the outcome, which in turn can be used to try and create mathematical models to predict outcomes for future patients. These models will subsequently be tried and tested for accuracy and then improved as needed.
REC name
West Midlands - Coventry & Warwickshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
25/WM/0057
Date of REC Opinion
1 May 2025
REC opinion
Unfavourable Opinion